Two out of eight Hamas prisoners who escaped from a Cairo prison arrived back in Gaza on Sunday, a Hamas official source said. By Sunday morning, at least two of the prisoners who had been held in Abu Zaabal prison, northeast of Cairo, had made it back to the Strip, entering through the tunnels, a Palestinian official told AFP.

Among those who arrived back in Gaza on Sunday was Mohamed al-Shaer, who was arrested in Egypt six months ago after a visit in Saudi Arabia. Shaer entered Gaza through the tunnels, witnesses said.

Several hours later, a second prisoner, Hassan Wishah also made his way through the tunnels to El Bourej camp in central Gaza Strip. He had served three years of a 10-year sentence at the Cairo jail for unspecified security offences.